Obama releases names of Rezko-linked donors

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign on Saturday released a list of 43 contributions totaling $73,900 that it says it will donate to charity because they were linked to indicted fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko.

The list at the end of this report — which includes Rezko’s family members, former employees and associates — brings to $159,085 the total contributions that Obama’s campaign said in a statement "could be reasonably credited to Mr.Rezko's political support."

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It doesn’t include any cash Rezko raised for the Illinois state legislative campaigns of Obama, now a U.S. senator running for president, nor does it include all contributions made to Obama’s federal races by Rezko-linked donors.

Obama’s campaign stressed in its statement Saturday — and reiterated Sunday — that the identification of contributions that will be donated to charity “is not in any way meant to suggest questions or concerns about the specific individuals identified.”

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said the bulk of the newly revealed contributions stemmed from a June 2003 fundraiser that Rezko threw at his suburban Chicago mansion for Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign.

“That occurred during the period of time in which [Rezko] is now accused of wrongdoing,” LaBolt said in a statement. “So, we made the decision to give away the money that we could determine had been raised for that event or by him for the Senate race. And this is the bulk of the money that Mr. Rezko raised for Obama overall.”

The new release, which was coupled with disclosures about a questionable land deal between the Obamas and the Rezkos, seems designed to put to rest concerns about the connection between Obama, who is engaged in a tough battle for the Democratic presidential nomination with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), and Rezko, who is on trial on corruption charges in federal court in Chicago.

Obama hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing in the trial, but his name has come up. And Rezko’s fundraising on his behalf figures to get some attention because prosecutors have alleged Rezko directed at least one beneficiary of a kickback scheme to donate ill-gotten gains to Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign.

There are many overlaps between the names on the list and those expected to come up during Rezko’s trial. The list includes contributions reported days after the June 2003 fundraiser from:

* Talat Othman, an official in an Illinois financial firm who court records show Rezko recommended for a spot on the Illinois Finance Authority.

* Semir Sirazi, a former Rezko business associate who says Rezko owes him millions of dollars.

* Michael Sreenan, who worked as an attorney for a Rezko development company and bought the lot next to Obama’s Chicago home from Rezko’s wife.

It also includes three contributions totaling $6,600, including a maximum $4,600 contribution to Obama’s presidential campaign — the only presidential campaign contribution on the list — from financier and Hollywood producer Thomas Rosenberg. Prosecutors contend Rezko tried to extort Rosenberg when he was seeking to make an investment on behalf of a state board Rezko controlled.

But the list doesn’t include five other contributions totaling $3,500 to Obama made by Sreenan. All of his contributions were made on the same days other Rezko associates and employees contributed often matching sums, including Sreenan’s first contribution on record, a $1,000 check reported on the same March 2000 day that five other Rezko employees also plunked down $1,000 each. Obama did include the other five Rezko-linked contributions on the list of those contributed to charity.

Nor does the list include a $1,723 contribution made by Othman, or a $2,000 contribution made by Sirazi.

Sirazi, Othman and Rosenberg are on a list of names that could come up in the Rezko trial.

LaBolt had said the donations to charity would be made from Obama’s 2010 Senate reelection campaign committee, which finished last year with $222,000 in the bank.

He named 17 charities, from the American Lung Association to Boys and Girls Club of Chicago to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to Habitat for Humanity.

Here’s the list of all the Rezko-linked contributions Obama is contributing to charity, including previously released contributions: